Canada has narrowed down its shopping list for its next fleet of submarines to those made by two suppliers, Germany’s Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems and South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean Co.
Ottawa plans to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s current fleet of four Victoria-class submarines over the next decade with up to 12 new subs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at a news conference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday morning that Hanwha and TKMS, are the two best qualified suppliers for the job.
“There’s a clear difference in their ability, the two finalists, to meet those technical requirements which are very demanding because in Canada, submarine means weeks under the sea ice, as well as in the Pacific,” Carney said.
“We need to be able to have year-round fleets on all three coasts under quite demanding conditions, so that’s how the field narrows quite quickly.”
Carney is paying a visit to the TKMS facility in Kiel while he’s in Germany, and said he plans to make a trip to visit Hanwha’s facilities in Korea in October.
A Canadian government official who gave a briefing to reporters on Carney’s trip said Canada is looking for an economic return from the company it chooses for the submarines, potentially in the form of maintenance contracts.
Public Services and Procurement Canada said it’s aiming to have the first submarine delivered by 2035.
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Carney is ramping up Canada’s defence spending plans in the coming years in a bid to meet its NATO spending targets.
Canada has signed a critical minerals partnership with Germany that encourages the joint public financing of natural resources projects as Ottawa works to boost development and exports to Europe.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said for too long, key Canadian minerals such as nickel and cobalt have gone underdeveloped while China and Russia dominate the global critical minerals market.
He said Germany has become a leader in Europe with efforts to diversify away from China and Russia.
“Canada can play a role in accelerating that diversification for Germany, and for Europe,” Carney said.
“These issues are only going to become more important. There’s likely to be a fourfold increase in the demand for critical minerals and minerals over the course of the next decade.”
Carney made the comments at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, where Carney said the two countries also aim to closely co-operate in energy, including on liquefied natural gas and hydrogen energy.
Nothing in the document is legally binding or binds Canada financially; it is designed to promote and encourage new cooperative efforts.
Carney said there’s a “huge range of immediate opportunities” around critical minerals and LNG.
The prime minister said Ottawa plans to formally announce new investments in port infrastructure in the next two weeks, and pointed to port upgrades in Montreal and Churchill, Man. that will help exports of energy and mineral products.
Both countries tapped senior bureaucrats as special envoys to advance the new mining partnership. Canada’s point-person will be Isabella Chan, senior assistant deputy minister for the lands and minerals sector at Natural Resources Canada, while Germany appointed Matthias Koehler, its deputy director general of raw minerals policy.
When the prime minister met with Merz in private earlier Tuesday, the two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine.
They agreed that no decisions about the war-torn country’s future should be made without Ukraine on board, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
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